And Maligned description of the "random draw-in" is the main reason that team scoring for Sectionals has started with the quarter-Final round. It eliminated the random draw-in of Bye or even FF from hurting or helping a team's chances of winning a Sectional title.
But, since after Sectional there is no random draw-in (with BYE being eliminated and almost all FF are out) it would seem logical that scoring could start with the opening round for the rest of the State Tournament Series. Although currently, the rule for Semi-State is still in place that scoring will not begin until the round of 8 (quarter-finals). It was recently changed at the State level to the opening round to help calculate a more accurate final team score, but this same measure was not implemented at the semi-state level for some reason.